


green-eyed monster

by ohjustpeachy



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Fills [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Jealous Steve Rogers, M/M, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24448831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohjustpeachy/pseuds/ohjustpeachy
Summary: Steve of all people would never begrudge someone their best friend, least of all Tony.Or, Rhodey comes to visit and Steve's feelings are...complicated.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo Fills [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601260
Comments: 10
Kudos: 315
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	green-eyed monster

**Author's Note:**

> For the square S5: Jealousy on my bingo card (#3049)!

“Room for one more?” A voice asks from the doorway. 

“Platypus!” Tony launches himself across the kitchen, throwing himself into Rhodey’s arms. He grins and presses an affectionate kiss to the side of his cheek before pulling away, eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you weren’t getting in until tomorrow!”

Steve gives Rhodey a smile and a wave and looks back to the pancakes he’s determined not to burn. He thought Rhodey was coming tomorrow, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with him being here a day early. He knows how much Tony misses him, with how much Colonel Rhodes still travels. Things hadn’t been the same since he and Tony got together, Steve knows. And Steve, of all people, would never begrudge someone their best friend, least of all Tony. Bucky’s around a lot, and he’s thankful for it. There’s nothing like a childhood best friend, Steve’s learned. Even with everything else, the serum, the team, the hundreds of people he meets a year. Bucky knew him before all that, just like Rhodey knew Tony as a gawky, bespectacled teenager, too smart for his own good. 

He thinks of Tony’s graduation pictures from MIT, the ones Tony threatens to burn every time they’re mentioned, and grins. He was adorable, even then, back when he was less charm and bravado and more braces and pocket protectors.

“ _Howard_ picked out that shirt,” Tony will argue, every time. 

Now, Steve looks up to find Rhodey and Tony still talking animatedly by the doorway, Tony touching Rhodey’s arm as he talks, perfectly at ease and making up for lost time. 

_It’s nice that he’s here_ , Steve reminds himself. Tony deserves to have his friends around. 

By the time Steve looks away, though, the pancake in front of him is more burned than not, and he tosses it to the side with a sigh. 

When he finally walks three full plates over to the table, Steve doesn’t miss the way Tony mouths a _thank you_ at him from across the table, or the way he beams, like he’s radiating light from the inside out, he’s so happy to be sitting and having breakfast with two of his favorite people. And, yeah, Steve feels like a little bit of a heel for the way he leans over and brings their mouths together, only briefly, before digging into his pancakes. Tony quirks an eyebrow at him, but certainly doesn’t seem to mind. 

It wasn’t for any particular reason.

 _Really_.

*

There are… a few more incidents as the day goes on. 

The first happens after Rhodey and Tony disappear down to the workshop for a few hours, laughter occasionally drifting up and finding its way to Steve’s ears. It’s nice, hearing Tony laugh like that. Even a floor away, Steve can picture the way his eyes crinkle at the corners, making him look so incredibly _young_. It still feels like a feat, making Tony laugh like that.

Maybe that’s what makes him do it, press the button to the intercom, interrupt the moment, only to fumble for words when Tony responds, “Yes, darling?” 

“Oh, uh, actually… never mind,” Steve says quickly. 

There’s a long pause. “Everything okay?” 

Steve shakes his head, despite being alone in the kitchen. “Yeah. Yes. Of course.”

“Okay. Well, we shouldn’t be down here much longer, Platypus can only put up with me proving him wrong for so long, isn’t that right?” 

Steve feels his jaw tense. He really doesn’t _mean_ to sound quite so clipped when he says he’ll see Tony later, before releasing the button without a response. 

Tony is affectionate with everyone; he always has been. 

So why then, is it making Steve so… _tense._

Maybe he just needed to blow off some steam. An hour or so in the gym would take his mind off things, surely. 

*

Dinner starts out okay. 

They order Chinese from Rhodey’s favorite place, and they eat in the living room, laughing and talking over the sitcom they have playing in the background. 

It’s nice, catching up. 

Things probably would have stayed that way if Steve had just kept his mouth shut. 

When Tony stands up to carry empty plates to the kitchen, he leans down and pulls Rhodey to his feet, resting his hand on his shoulder in a way that makes everything in Steve go still. 

“Come on, honey bear, help me with the plates, be a gracious guest to your oldest pal.” 

“ _Gracious guest_ , he says,” Rhodey mutters, but he’s laughing, ready to help Tony with the half-full containers when Steve leaps to his feet and all but swats his hand away. 

“I’ll do it!” Maybe it comes out a little louder and harsher than he intends.

Tony’s eyebrows hit his hairline before he smiles uncertainly. “Hear that, sour patch? Steve thinks you should take a load off. We’ll be right back.” 

Steve can feel Tony’s eyes on him as they walk to the kitchen. Confused, definitely. Hurt, maybe, after Steve yelled at Rhodey like that. 

They load the dishwasher in silence.

_What a disaster._

*

“You know,” Tony says later that night, sliding into bed and pressing himself in close to Steve. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Steve Rogers was _jealous_ today.”

Steve swallows. He’d never had the best poker face. “No,” he says. “Not jealous, exactly.”

Tony cocks his head, smiling softly. “Not jealous exactly,” he repeats. 

Steve can only nod. 

“But somewhere in that neighborhood.” It’s not a question, and Steve can’t deny it anyway, not after the day he’d had. 

“Maybe.”

“Sweetheart,” Tony says, so fondly that Steve feels ridiculous for the way he’d acted all day. Jealous of Rhodey, Tony’s best friend in the world. 

“I _know_ ,” Steve groans.

“Do you, though? Do you know how much I love you? Rhodey means a lot to me; he always will, but you do know that it doesn’t mean I have to love anybody _less_. Just…” Tony leans over and brushes a stray piece of hair from Steve’s forehead, fingers lingering by his temple. “Differently.” 

Tony looks at him so seriously that time seems to slow, and Steve feels his breath catch. Everything he needs to know about how Tony feels is reflected back at him now, brown eyes going liquid gold and earnest. Steve lets out a long breath and nods.

“I’m sorry,” Steve murmurs. “I don’t know what came over me. I’ll apologize to Rhodey,” he adds.

“Oh, he’ll never let you live it down, please do,” Tony laughs. 

Steve groans again. “That’s probably fair. But we’re good, you and me?” 

“We’re good,” Tony confirms, pulling Steve in for a long, tight hug. Tony might be a few inches shorter than him, but he has a way of making his hugs feel so all encompassing and endlessly warm that Steve is fairly sure he’ll never have enough of them.

“I love you too, you know,” Steve says quietly, not lifting his face from Tony’s neck. “So much.”

Tony nods, holding on a little tighter. 


End file.
